Former nursing home CEO sentenced for stealing funds

Zaffuto diverted money from Christ the King Manor, DuBois

CLEARFIELD -- The former CEO of a DuBois nursing home was sentenced to state prison Thursday for stealing potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars from the facility.

Samuel Joseph Zaffuto, 65, Sykesville, was originally charged with 19 felony charges and 17 misdemeanors for his actions while employed at Christ the King Manor in DuBois.

Zaffuto was diverting funds from the nursing home to support the Sykesville AG and Youth Fair, vacations, vehicle purchases and his family.

Prior to sentencing before President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman, current CEO and Chief Administrator Paula Felton-Werner read from a victim impact statement that outlined the extent of his crimes which began as early as May 2004 and continued until his termination in July 2019.

She explained that he misled everyone into believing he was "a good person by promoting a food booth at the Sykesville AG & Youth Fair under the guise of a CTKM Auxiliary fundraiser."

In reality, CTKM "provided financial and human resources, inventory, supplies, equipment and labor to finance the operations of its food booth at the annual fair."

Zaffuto even purchased a new $57,000 truck without board consent to pull his food trailer, for which CTKM made the loan payments.

Instead of using money allocated to fix 50-year-old windows in patients' rooms, he directed employees "to roll up towels and place them on the windowsills to keep the cold air out in the winter, while funds earmarked for replacement of the windows were used to upgrade his office and the office of his personal assistant (who happened to be his wife)."

Leaks in the roof were dealt with by placing buckets to catch the rain, and obsolete equipment was not replaced, she said.

During his time as CEO, he was also "known to be continually absent from the facility."

"Though our forensic auditor concluded that CTKM suffered a financial loss in excess of $900,000, we suspect that the amount misappropriated by Mr. Zaffuto over many years exceeds that amount. (The majority of the fair's revenue is cash and is difficult to account for)," she told Ammerman.

His arrest and the uncovering of these crimes also affected the community's perception of the company, leading to a lack of confidence impacting donations and gifts, she noted.

She asked Ammerman to make us "whole in spirit" by giving Zaffuto a state prison sentence.

The plea agreement for only one felony charge of theft required that Zaffuto pay restitution of over $70,694.73 prior to sentencing.

District Attorney Ryan Sayers provided an audit that determined the restitution numbers but noted that more was alleged to be taken, which may be pursued in a civil case.

Attorney Thomas Kauffman of Indiana County, who represented Zaffuto, asked for his sentence to be postponed for 90 days to allow Zaffuto to be evaluated medically by the jail because he may require house arrest.

He stated that "a fair sentence is probation" in this case because he helped CTKM grow into a $30 million organization and he has no prior record.

Ammerman disagreed with this and sentenced Zaffuto to nine months to five years in state prison.

In a statement released after Zaffuto's sentencing, officials of CTKM said they are pleased with this outcome.

"We continue to be fully committed to excellence in care for our residents," the statement says.

"As a trusted member of the DuBois community for more than 50 years, we pledge to maintain our heightened standard of transparency in all our endeavors.

"We greatly appreciate the support we have received from our community. Our mission to provide compassionate care that empowers our residents to live full and dignified lives remains unwavering."